The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for recognizing a Korean (Hangul) character to be assembled from a Korean alphabet row inputted into the apparatus, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for receiving, in a system using a microprocessor, a Korean alphabet input by using interrupt processing while permitting the microprocessor to execute other jobs, and for thereby recognizing a Korean character to be assembled.
In recent years, banking terminals and word processing units have been developed as being applicable to Korean characters. Such an apparatus employs in general one or more microprocessors, and such a microprocessor executes some jobs such as the control of input/output equipment, prescribed logical operations and the like in a time sharing manner. Accordingly, the development of a method of recognizing a Korean character and an apparatus therefor has been needed so as to improve the throughput of such a microprocessor.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-2030 for example, discloses a method of generating a Korean Character pattern as a prior art method of recognizing a Korean character assembled using a Korean alphabet row. This method recognizes a Korean character by dividing the Korean alphabet row into vowels and consonants and detecting a vowel next to a consonant.
It is assumed in the above method that a Korean alphabet row such as
is inputted in succession. Here, the alphabet characters " ", " ", " ", " ", and " ", "--" are vowels. Thereupon, these vowels are discriminated one by one, and when a vowel "--" is inputted, the preceding Korean symbol " " can be recognized by regarding the symbol " " as the initial consonant.
However, in the prior art method, the final consonant yielded by combining " " with " " is ungrammatical, and hence although the Korean character " " can be recognized theoretically when " " is inputted, in practice this character can not be recognized until the next vowel "--" is inputted. Thus, the method is defective because the timing to output these Korean symbols to an output device such as a display unit, etc., is delayed.
Moreover, a method to assemble a printing font of Korean characters from prior Korean symbols is known in U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,720 by Park.
According to this method, a proper printing font can be selected from a Korean alphabet row successively inputted by classifying the twenty-four basic Korean symbols being inputted in conformity with a grammatical rule and positional information of the symbols in the printing font.
Park's method however, suffers from a drawback in that it must employ many shift registers, and hence sequential processing is needed to unadvantageously allow a control logic circuit to use a wasteful waiting time. In addition, it must insert a space for punctuating characters. Furthermore, since a character being inputted is limited to the basic twenty-four types, a font table indicative of the configuration of the printing font as well as logic to analyze grammar are complicated.